He once memorably described a country song as “a three-minute soap opera,” and signature sides like “Drinking Thing,” “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” and “In Some Room Above the Street” illustrated his point: These short, sharp musical melodramas, delivered in a high striking vibrato, cut through the era’s placid country-pop to make their way to the top of the charts.
Through the back half of the ’70s, Stewart found success and also a diverse group of admirers including Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, Waylon Jennings and the Clash. But after a few years, the hits suddenly dried up. His label, RCA, tried teaming Stewart with the up-and-coming singer-songwriter Dean Dillon for a pair of duet albums. When that failed to reignite his career, Stewart was dropped by the label in 1983.
One Writer’s Obsession
Around that time, McDonough caught one of Stewart’s rare New York City appearances at the Lone Star Cafe. McDonough went expecting some “pompadoured song salesman in a Nudie Suit” replicating his radio hits. Instead, the concert proved a revelation. “In addition to his honky-tonk stuff, the guy could pound the piano like Jerry Lee Lewis, play stinging Southern Rock like the Allmans, croon a ballad like Bobby Darin and play an acoustic blues that would have Tommy Johnson nodding his head,” McDonough said. “It just blew me away.”
At the time, McDonough was working as a sound editor for films, but seeing Stewart redirected his life. He spent the next few years chasing down the singer, who’d abandoned his career and disappeared into Fort Pierce, where he was living a hermetic, hedonistic existence. Determined to drag Stewart back into the spotlight, McDonough finally pinned him down in 1987 and spent 10 days and nights interviewing him at his home. Over the course of intense conversations and occasional fights — Stewart was fond of hurling knives in McDonough’s direction — the pair formed a strange, profound kinship.
The experience formed the basis of a lengthy Stewart profile published in the Village Voice in 1988, kick-starting McDonough’s writing career. The story also revived Stewart’s fortunes, as he made a comeback and cut a trio of albums for the California indie roots label HighTone Records before retreating once again.